


Unexpected Part 2

by Name1



Series: Moving Forward [5]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Name1/pseuds/Name1
Summary: Din can’t help his thoughts as they continuously drift back to their time on Sorgan. It was such a simple time, even as they were getting ready to defend the village. Now, things had changed so much. They had finally admitted their mutual desire for each other and easily fallen into a newer, closer, and more intimate routine. While cultivating the physical side of their relationship was new and exciting, he can’t help but think back to how connected they had been from the very beginning.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Moving Forward [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648918
Comments: 22
Kudos: 103





	Unexpected Part 2

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for hanging in there with me! The epic amount of flashbacks are almost at an end :)  
> We'll be back to the present next, I just had to lay out some stuff in the past first.

Unexpected part 2

Din can’t help his thoughts as they continuously drift back to their time on Sorgan. It was such a simple time, even as they were getting ready to defend the village. Now, things had changed so much. They had finally admitted their mutual desire for each other and easily fallen into a newer, closer, and more intimate routine. While cultivating the physical side of their relationship was new and exciting, he can’t help but think back to how connected they had been from the very beginning.

Back on Sorgan

Cara was dripping sweat after their morning workout and sparring routine, her wet hair clinging to her face in thick ropes. She reaches down to take his gloved hand to help him to a standing position and he takes it. It feels so natural now; the push and pull, the casual touches. It’s effortless. A quarter of the day has already passed them by in each other’s company in the field on Sorgan.

  
“Come on Mando, get up, time for round 2”.

“That was already round 4, you’re forgetting how to count Dune”.

“Shut up, before I shut you up,” she says without any heat behind it, “you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun,” she sends back to him with a grin.

  
Din thinks seriously for a minute. _Was he? Was he actually having fun? He couldn't remember ever just having fun before, even as a child._

  
“I’m up, I’m up, get ready to get your ass kicked, Dune”. Her brilliant laugh was so loud it filled the whole empty field with the sound of it. At the end of the day both of their asses were sore, and they returned to the village aching, tired, and both grinning like idiots. They were evenly matched, but they rarely fought to a draw. One of them always ended up on top. Din wasn’t sure which position he preferred, if he was honest.

…………………..

He watched her in admiration as she trained the villagers how to use a spear. She had the raw power and strength to render it a lethal weapon, but he doubted the villagers did. Still, they only had so many guns to go around, and part of war was making a losing team feel like that had a chance of winning. This was Cara’s element. The mental battle was half of the war. If she could convince them they had a real chance, maybe they would surprise them both and pull this off. Otherwise, it would be the two of them on their own against the odds. She was a natural leader; her voice was loud and clear and her speech concise. She inspired confidence and made the villagers (unwitting troops) believe she had confidence in them as well. She took control of them in a way he could never have managed. It was clear she had done this before.

He hoped for all their sakes that she managed to pull this off. As confident as he was in his and Cara’s abilities, he wasn’t looking forward to defending the whole village by themselves. He had no doubt from what he had seen of her fighting, her military training evident, that she could probably have taken out the whole platoon of raiders on her own if she was pissed off enough. The thought of the two of them fighting side-by-side against the odds ignited some weird feeling in his stomach. Maybe he was just hungry, but he had eaten only an hour ago.

They made their daily walk of the perimeter in companionable silence as they tested the fences and barricades that had been constructed near the tree-line. The goal was to force the enemy to come into their space, exactly where they wanted them. If it worked, it would funnel them through a bottleneck so they could pick them off easier. This was her specialty, a talent he was really beginning to appreciate the simplicity of. In contrast to his brute force approach or stealth, Cara could get the enemy right where she wanted them, regardless of their size or numbers.

 _He was impressed._ He was almost never impressed anymore. Years of disappointment in everyone he came across, had made him cynical in a way that was fading day-by-day he spent at her side. He could feel the years, the stress melting off him as he spent time with her, even as the battle loomed. He had faced many worse odds than this. Himself and Cara against a team of untrained raiders? _He liked those odds._

The night of their planned assault arrives. They are as ready as they will ever be.

They easily take out the two men sitting around the fire. He winces when she chokes out her target, remembering how strong her hands had been around his own throat as she knelt over him. Now was certainly not the time to get distracted or turned on for that matter… _get it together, focus._

Their footfalls were almost completely silenced by the soft moss and vegetation they stepped over to get to the tent. It was almost a game, as they pulled their blasters at the same time and walked around slowly in the tent. She walked around like she already owned the place. Her little whistle signaled him to get ready as the fight started.

Gods, they were magnificent together, each playing off the other’s strengths, covering each other’s weaknesses.

……………..

The night of the battle was a blur. He remembers them moving through the forest in perfect synchrony, their bodies moving together as if they had always been doing this. He remembers them picking off raiders almost if it was a game and working together through silent gestures, whistles, and a nod of the head to take down the ones in the tent. He looked at her and could practically feel her blood singing as he watched her beating the hell out of one man and taking a punch to the face with a brilliant, excited smile. He’d never seen someone enjoy a fight, especially a punch to the face, like she did. His blood had heated to answer hers, and he felt the rush and inexplicable focus from the fight flow through him.

He remembers the fear that laced his voice as he yelled at her to run as the ‘eyes’ of the AT-ST light up menacingly in the darkness.

They run back to the village as if the Emperor himself is on their heels. Waiting for the onslaught, they’re all hunkered down behind the barricade the villagers created, doing their best to make a sort of poor-man’s bunker. From a purely military point of view, he knew it would make more sense for him and Cara to spread out. It was common sense: don’t keep the only two real fighters together, split them up on either side of the soldiers to provide an assist if necessary.

However, he found himself crouching next to her. They both pulled their blasters at the same time and waited for the oncoming siege. This was it.

He heard Cara let out a deep breath and he turned to her, prepared to tell her to relax, to reassure her they would be fine, but what he saw took him aback. She wasn’t controlling her breathing because she was scared, _she was excited_. He could practically feel the vibrations coming off her. It was dark but even then, he could see how alive she looked in that moment, her eyes glittering like she couldn’t wait for this; she was in her element, full of adrenaline, ready to fight for people who couldn’t defend themselves, to prove she was useful. As peaceful as these weeks had been, this is who she was. She was like him. They could never really a live a peaceful life, as much as they pretended otherwise. She was magnificent like this.

He had never felt more connected to another human being as he did in this moment. Her nervous excited energy was speaking directly to his and he knew he would think about this moment when he closed his eyes for years to come. 

Then there was no more time for thinking as they were picking off enemies like target practice. He was determined to get more than she did, and he started taking count under his breath. She must have heard him because her heard her laugh and start counting aloud too.

Then that damn walker wouldn’t take that final step and he had a moment of panic this would all fall apart. Cara didn’t seem deterred though. When it became clear they needed a new plan, he looked to her. He wanted her advice, trusted her judgement.

“I’m thinking,” she said, not frantic yet, but getting there. He could practically see the wheels turning rapidly in her head, totally in her element. Damage control, strategy, on-the-spot analysis of their strength and weaknesses, risk assessment, level-headed thinking under pressure: this was familiar to her and she was good at it. Who was this woman who took control of this battle so easily and made him want to follow her straight into the fight? She must have been magnificent in the Rebellion.

Then suddenly he heard “Give me the pulse rifle,” she was saying in a strong voice that didn’t have room for any uncertainty.

He hands it over, his brain not catching up with his body. He never let anyone use his weapons, especially not the rifle. It was special to him. He couldn’t believe the ease with which he handed it over to her. She had a plan, and he would see it through.

“I’ll cover you,” he stated as she jumped up and started running straight toward that damn thing.

_What the hell was she thinking! She was going to get herself killed!_

He saw her dive for the edge of the water just narrowly missing a blast from the AT-ST’s heavy guns. All he could see was smoke, and his stomach was in his throat waiting for it to clear. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her backed up against the muddy ledge of the pond, her chest heaving and her wet hair sticking to her face, as she clutched his rifle and caught her breath.

“Come to mama”.

When she managed to shoot out it’s viewport with a shot he wasn’t sure he could have been able to make, even with his most trusted weapon, the walker took a shaky step forward and he felt the tide turn as it’s legs crumpled. It was down!

He managed to place the short-timed detonator on the bulk of its chassis and dive into the pool next to her just in time.

It would take forever to get the bits of krill out of his boots and the mud out of his jumpsuit, but he couldn’t care less. He had never felt more alive than he had in this moment with her.

“Was that the plan?”, he asked in a laugh that escaped him.  
She was still smiling, when she nodded, “something like that”. He couldn't look away from the beautiful smile that lit up her face, even in the dark. That it was directed at him was unbelievable.

He climbs out first, water pouring out the tops of his boots. He reaches out for her hand and they’re both shaking with excitement and adrenaline. She loves a good fight like he does. He was amazed at this woman.

He’s brought back to her as she says, “I kept the electrode out of the water, don’t worry”, returning his favorite rifle. To be honest, when he saw her run straight for that walker his only thoughts were for her safety, rifle be damned. He was humbled by her respect and reverence for his belongings. She knew it was his favorite rifle, but she had to know her well-being meant more to him than any gun, any weapon he owned. He hoped she did. He didn’t know how to voice something like that if she didn’t.

As he looks at her, completely drenched with her clothes clinging to her body, he distracts himself by looking at the pond. The water is still sloshing back and forth creating waves and it makes him think of the ocean.

He can’t help but make the comparison in his head, not that he could ever manage to voice it aloud. Cara is like the ocean too. Sometimes she’s lapping at his defenses like little gentle waves that barely cover your toes, and other times she is crashing down his defenses in wave after unrelenting wave. She’s strong and powerful like a rip current, and he feels powerless when she stares at him with those eyes; it’s like he’s drowning. Like the tide, she sweeps his feet out from under him and pull him deeper into her. He’s so taken by her, he can barely keep his head above water. When he’s at his happiest in her presence he’s so weightless it feels like he’s floating and she’s the sea, holding him up. She’s a force of nature and he doesn’t know quite when it happened, but he’s at her mercy. Like the ocean, she has become a constant, a place he wants to visit time and time again to revel in its power and beauty.

_Shit._ This is bad. This isn’t friendship or lust at all. What he feels for her is something entirely more terrifying……………. _Shit._

…………………

The next day

Din was watching Cara. He found himself doing this more than he can safely justify. She was perched confidently on the top of the crumpled AT-ST, looking for all the world like she lived up there. She worried that the children’s curiosity would get the better of them and they’d find their way into the control room. They probably didn’t even know to expect a dead body. These things weren’t remotely controlled, usually manned by a single person hidden behind the viewport that could menacingly look like eyes in dim light. She’d have to sneak back in the veil of night to dispose of the body. There were plenty of parts the villagers could scavenge, but these kids didn’t need to see any more dead bodies any time soon. He watched her as she climbed down and made it back to solid ground. He was puzzled when he saw her lean down and pick up what seemed to be a handful of what looked like either sand or pebbles from the ground and put her closed hand back in her pocket.

……………..

Days later when he hears the single shot and takes off running to the woods, he doesn’t know what to expect when he gets there. He relaxes when he sees Cara standing over a hunter, her blaster still smoking and a frown on her face.

“They know he’s here,” he says in a sad, defeated tone. He hoped he could keep the kid here, where it was green and peaceful. He was wrong.

“They’ll keep coming,” she said worryingly. She seemed genuinely worried for him. She looked sad, resigned even. She knew what this meant for _him_. For _them_.

“Yes”. He knew what this meant, he just didn’t want to admit it to himself yet.

He knew he had to leave, him and the kid. That thought lodges in his chest. It was too soon, he never even got the chance to tell her how much he…….. _what exactly?_

What could he say to a force of nature like her: a strong, brave, beautiful, selfless woman who seemed to care for him despite his many faults. What could he possibly offer her?

A _Thank you?_ That was woefully inadequate for what her friendship had meant these past weeks, what she had come to mean to him beyond that. The feelings of belonging and affection she ignited in him…… _What is he supposed to do? How is he supposed to just let her go now? How could he ask her to come with him?_

The battle they signed up for was over. But the next battle, the _real battle_ for him, was going to be leaving her behind.

The kid had to come first, but if he was honest with himself, he thought of what it would be like to choose something for himself for the first time. _He’d never get to find out, the kid had to come first._

They were leaving…….

Din knew the galaxy was big. _Really big_. The chance that he would ever see her again was zero and he felt sick thinking about it. Would he think of her years from now?

 _Yes. He was sure of it._ Would he think back to their easy, peaceful mornings when he was up to his eyeballs in enemies who wanted to kill the kid? _Definitely_. Would he miss her? _Unbearably._

He couldn’t just forget her laugh, the sound of her voice when he could tell she was teasing him. Her strength, both when he needed it and even when he didn’t. Her right hook and the strength of her legs as she pinned him to the ground. The curve of her lips when he made her smirk. The way her eyes lit up when she managed to get him to laugh at something ridiculous that came out of her mouth.

Her partnership was so easy and effortless, the only time he ever felt part of something other than The Way. She accepted him, completely. She _saw_ him, _knew_ him without ever asking to see his face. Giving that up would be beyond painful. Thinking he might hurt her was torture. He didn’t know everything of her past, but he could see in her eyes she had known hurt, like him. The thought that he would be the cause of additional hurt made him feel sick. Would she regret getting close to him? He prayed she wouldn’t. He would never regret any second with her.

He tried to convince himself that maybe they would find each other again one day. He couldn’t leave willingly, thinking he was leaving her behind forever.

………………………………

“Until our paths cross,” she had said optimistically, holding her hand up for him to grasp.

“Until our paths cross,” he swore. In his head he said it like a prayer, like he could influence the universe through the sheer force of his will. If he said it with enough conviction, maybe fate would take pity on him this _one time_ and let him see her again.

He clasped hands with her, their palms touching, and fingers wrapped around each other’s hands tightly. He felt her gripping him and he hoped she could feel _something_ of what he hoped to convey through his own grip. She was smiling, but it wasn’t the genuine smile he had grown so accustomed to. She seemed resigned, like she knew this couldn’t have lasted, but hoped anyway. He thought her eyes were glistening, but it was probably just the sunlight. They broke apart before things got awkward with half of the village watching them. The cart began to pull away, and then she was gone.

…………….

Present day

He comes back to the present and he scans the room, realizing he lost some time somewhere. Cara is by the kid’s favorite side of the table that he hides his toys under for safekeeping. He keeps making little trips under the table, grabbing one, and bringing it out for her to _ooh_ and _ahhh_ over, tell him how much she loves it, and shower him with praise. He smiles up at her, places the treasure in her lap and then he’s back at it again, venturing under the table to bring her another one of his “presents”. Her smile when he brings it, and her words of affection, praise, and encouragement are so gentle that it’s hard to believe this is the same woman who can land Din on the ground with a single blow. He thinks back to their first meeting and her sheer strength. It’s his privilege that he knows both her physical strength and the strength of her character. He knows her now, in a way he never would have thought possible back then.

She laughs out loud when she sees him present to her one of her own worn boots, always the right one. Why he loves her right boot so much, she’ll never know but he counts it as one of his treasures. The left one always sits by Din’s, near the ramp.

When the kid has completed his last mission of toy delivery, Cara’s lap is full as she tried to hold them all, giving his presents to her the care and reverence they deserve. Afterall, they mean something to the kid, and that means something to her. The way he offers them up to her like she might want to play and glean some comfort from them is sweet. How did she end up with all of _this_? Din, and her, and the kid living together like it had always been like this.

What’s less sweet, but still cute, is the fact he keeps trying to lift the edge of her loose gray shirt she still hasn’t given back to Din. Truth be told, she doesn’t plan to. If he wants it back, he can come and take it himself, preferably while she is still wearing it. She smiles as she imagines how that would play out. The kid, totally oblivious to the turn her thoughts have taken, keeps trying to get under the edge of her shirt. She just laughs and swats his little hands away with a chuckle.

“Hey Din! Your kid’s over here getting handsy.”

“This totally reflects on you as a parent. What are you going to do about it?”, she yells across the space so he can hear her.

“Is ‘encourage him’ the wrong answer?”, he replies right back, without hesitation.

He was on fire lately with the comebacks. She loved it.

She turns to look at him full-on, incredulous, and the kid takes that as his cue to wriggle up the inside of her shirt and she lets out a shriek as he squeezes his little fuzzy head out the neck of her shirt, looking up at her. Din is laughing so hard when he sees the look of satisfaction on the kid’s face. That’s his boy. What’s even better is that his ears haven’t quite made it all the way through, and Cara reaches down to gently free them. His whole body is still under her shirt and he’s so wiggly Cara can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“You’re a sneaky little fella,” she says as she affectionately stroked his little forehead wrinkles and across the downy softness of his ears. It only takes a few gentle passes before the kid’s eyes grow heavy and he rests his face down against her chest. His breath evens out and she knows she’s stuck. She doesn’t have it in her to wake him.

“Well, I guess I’ll just get comfortable then, it’s past his nap time anyway”. She stretches her legs out in front of her, crossing her ankles and shifts her weight a little. Din just stares at her in awe, as if she’s been taking care of their kid her whole life. And the way the kid looks at her makes Din’s chest tighten. The fact that his boy’s growing up with the family that Din never had, is more than he could have ever hoped to provide when he ran away with the kid so long ago now. He figured the kid was just going to be stuck with just him, having to watch him fumble through his inexperience at providing care for another person, especially one so small and impressionable. But then Cara crashed into his life, and not only did she grow to love the kid, but she made _him_ a better man at the same time: a better man, a better parent, a better Mandalorian. Just _better_. How she did it, he still doesn’t know, but he’s grateful.

Din stands up, walks over to the wall she’s resting against and sits down next to her, stretching out his legs in front of him in a perfect mirror of her own body. They’re pressed together from hips to shoulders and she rests her head on his warm shoulder, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The past few weeks have been wonderful, each of them embracing their new-found awareness of each other. Their little touches were almost a given now, and the stolen, _mostly_ chaste kisses before bed….and _in_ bed….. that was another thought all together, one that made him warm all over.

Maybe change wasn’t scary after all. Their hands and their mouths had finally given into their passion for one another. It had been glorious, and the relief that came with finally getting to taste her and touch her was like a gulp of oxygen after surfacing from the ocean. He took in gulp after gulp, not being able to get enough. Like everything else, they were perfectly matched in their uncontrollable desire for one another. There had been no downsides, no negatives, no compromises, just this amazing closeness that they finally acknowledged and reveled in. To think they could have been _like this_ for ages……

“No,” he thinks. Everything has happened at exactly the right pace to put them here, in this moment. They were exactly where they needed to be. This was all part of the path they started on together so long ago. Not a moment had been wasted since they met and every second they spent together pushed them closer.

Nothing had been rushed and as a result, they had everything to look forward to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading everyone!  
> I appreciate all your kind comments. Thanks friends!  
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! They make me so happy :)  
> Next chapter is back to the present. Yay!
> 
> Special thanks to littlejoregal for catching my typos before I sent this out.


End file.
